


Never Letting Go

by Arach



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bullying, Established Relationship, Ficlet, Fluff, Fluffy Ending, Friendship/Love, Happy Ending, M/M, Minor Violence, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Prompt Fill, Same-Sex Marriage, Science Bros
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-04
Updated: 2014-11-04
Packaged: 2018-02-24 01:20:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2562932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arach/pseuds/Arach
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From childhood friends to married lovers, they never let go of each other.<br/>--<br/>“Eleven years ago, you helped a poor, defenseless nerd and rescued him from bullies. You held out your hand as a sign of friendship and, Tony Stark – my partner in crime, my brother in science, and the love of my life. I’m extremely happy to continue holding onto your hand for the rest of my life.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Never Letting Go

**Author's Note:**

> another ficlet originally posted on my tumblr for one of my friends. again i'm so sorry if tony or bruce have some out of character moments, i've never written them before!
> 
> as always, happy reading!

Bruce was always the quiet one at school. It was all good grades, keep your head down, and have a few to no friends. With that, it was no surprise that he was the first person the bullies targeted in seventh grade.

“Hey nerd, what’cha got there?” The ninth grader, followed by his friends, grabbed the notebook out of Bruce’s hands and started turning it, squinting at the complicated formulas and diagrams littering the page.

“He’s way more than a nerd! What the hell even is that?” One of his friends took the notebook and pointed to one of the formulas.

“Does it matter? Not like we need to know what it means,” The leader snatched the notebook back. He glanced over to his other two friends and nodded his head towards Bruce. They nodded back and one dived towards the younger boy, landing a hard punch on his face – hard enough to knock his glasses off. The other one went behind him and held his hands together.

“Now what should we do with this?” The leader waved the notebook around. Bruce looked like he was ready to burst into tears. He didn’t care about the punches or kicks, but if they messed with his notebook… he spent hours upon hours working out those formulas.

“I’ll tell you,” Tony Stark walked up to them and quickly grabbed the notebook out of the leader’s hands, “how about you leave the poor guy alone or I’ll ruin you, how’s that sound?” Tony smirked at him, a smug look on his face.

“C’mon guys, let’s go,” The leader said to his friends before running away, swearing under his breath – most likely cursing Tony Stark.

Tony glared at the one who still held Bruce’s hands behind his back. The guy immediately let go and ran after his friends, eyes wide with fear. Tony watched them leave before walking over to Bruce and crouching in front of him. He held out the notebook.

“I’m Tony Stark,” he introduced himself once Bruce took his notebook back.

“Bruce Banner,” Bruce replied quietly, squinting a bit partially because of the sun and partially because he could barely see anything without his glasses.

Tony seemed to notice it and looked around on the ground, finding Bruce’s glasses and cleaning them off before he slipped them back onto Bruce’s face.

“Thanks,” Bruce muttered, his cheeks flushing, well one cheek was red while the other was swelling up from the punch.

Tony took a seat on the concrete ground next to Bruce and pointed at one of the diagrams. “Y’know, this is really good. I have a few ideas of my own that could go well with it.” Tony swung his bag around and opened it, taking out his own notebook filled with diagrams and data and formulas.

Bruce’s eyes lightened up in interest as they switched notebooks and ideas, Bruce fixing some of Tony’s unsuccessful projects and Tony adding onto Bruce’s ever-growing plans. They spent most of their time on the ground, chatting, until Tony got tired of sitting and stood up.

“C’mon, Bruce. I’ll show you my work space!” Tony offered his hand to the other and Bruce stared at it, unsure and hesitant. He’s never really had any friends or anyone to share his love for science with. But Tony was different, he was a genius and funny and friendly and he  _did_ just save him.

Tony rolled his eyes jokingly and leaned forward, his hand closer to Bruce. “I promise I’m not some sort of serial killer.”

Bruce laughed at that and finally grabbed onto Tony’s hand, letting the other pull him up from the ground. He let Tony lead the way to his house, which thankfully wasn’t too far away from where they originally were.

They held hands the entire walk there.

Bruce hasn’t let go of that hand ever since.

* * *

 

Third year of college, Bruce was now head scientist at Stark industries. Tony was the official CEO after his father passed away.

Bruce was still holding onto that hand that helped him all those years ago, though with Tony know a well-known and wealthy figure in society, it was inevitable for him to get into trouble.

“Tony!” Bruce ran into the dim room that held a bruised and battered Tony Stark and one of his competitor’s jockey’s with his fist in the air. “Let. Him. Go.”

The guy in front of Tony looked Bruce up and down, taking in Bruce’s long white coat and slightly askew glasses. He scoffed and let go of Tony, turning his attention to Bruce. “And what are you gonna do about?”

Bruce saw red and swung his fists, and crowbar that he used to sneak into the building, at the other guy. By the time Tony’s kidnapper was unconscious and bloodied on the floor, Bruce was red faced and breathing heavily, his hand tight around the crowbar.

Tony groaned, having gained consciousness, and squinted, “Bruce?”

The red faded and Bruce dropped the crowbar as if it were gonna explode in his hand. He ran to Tony, roughly falling to his knees in front of him and holding Tony’s face in his hands, being careful of the bruises and cuts littering his skin.

“You are a complete idiot,” Bruce scolded him, assessing the rest of the damage done to his best friend.

“But I’m your idiot.”

Bruce snorted and shook his head – leave it to Tony to never take a situation like this seriously. He quickly untied Tony’s hands and feet, lightly running his fingers over the rope marks on Tony’s wrists. Bruce placed Tony’s right arm over his shoulder, his hand holding onto his best friend’s tightly, and wrapped his arm around Tony’s waist as he helped Tony walk out of the building and into the helicopter Jarvis prepared.

* * *

Two years later, Bruce held that hand as he said his vows in front of a priest, his friends, and his lover.

“Eleven years ago, you helped a poor, defenseless nerd and rescued him from bullies. You held out your hand as a sign of friendship and, Tony Stark – my partner in crime, my brother in science, and the love of my life. I’m extremely happy to continue holding onto your hand for the rest of my life.” Bruce muttered a small apology as tears stung the corners of his eyes. Tony smiled at him and squeezed his hand comfortingly.

“Eleven years ago, I helped an intelligent little boy with a bright future. He later returned that favor by rescuing me from my own bullies. The first time I offered my hand to him because I knew from that moment that we’d be best friends. That he’d be my partner in crime,” Tony let go of one of Bruce’s hands and cupped Bruce’s cheek, his thumb wiping away a tear, “My science bro. I’d be honored to never let go of this hand until the day we die.” He brought Bruce’s hand to his lips and kissed his knuckles. A fresh wave of tears flowed down Bruce’s cheeks.

“You’re supposed to kiss his lips!” Clint yelled followed by a small ‘ow!’ after being punched in the arm by Natasha.

Tony and Bruce looked at the friends, who were all smiling up at them, and then at each other, matching grins on both their face.

“I now pronounce you husband and husband, you may now kiss.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Tony mumbled before pulling Bruce close and kissing him passionately. Bruce emitted a quiet noise of surprise before kissing back with just as much passion, his arms wrapped around Tony’s waist.

“Get a room!” Clint shouted again.

“Shut up,” Natasha spoke after him, smacking him in the arm.

The rest of their friends laughed and whooped and cheered, patting the newlywed couple as they walked down the aisle and out of the building. They got into Tony’s car and waved goodbye to their friends before speeding off.

Their hands were intertwined the entire time.


End file.
